I found the Misunderstood Minds simulation extremely beneficial. It reminded me of a simulation I did in one of my ESL training classes. In this class, our instructor tried to teach us Gaelic using only Gaelic. It helped remind us how foreign and frustrating it feels when you cannot understand the language. In the same way this assignment reminded me of how it felt when I was young and was discouraged with certain assignments in school. The Gaelic courses helped me to be a much more understanding English teacher. It also reminded me of how gratifying it was when I started to understand the language and how rewarding it was when I could actually speak it. After taking the course, whenever I meet a person from Ireland, I always try out the little Gaelic I know. This same satisfaction can be felt with kids with learning disabilities when we give them the right tools to succeed. Once they taste that success, after being so discouraged for so long, they will hopefully be intrinsically reinforced to become better and better.
The implications I take away from this simulation for teaching is that it is essential for a teacher to have understanding and patience. Teachers must look beyond the problems-the distraction or the frustration-and see why these problems are occurring. While I was taking the different quizzes and accomplishing the various activities I often gave up, became upset, and felt defeated and discouraged. I cannot imagine if a child felt like that every day during school. And it explains so many of the problem behaviors within the classroom. These activities provide a way for teachers to get in the shoes of a child with a learning disability. This understanding is priceless. I think this is is the best way to start off our course. Now with that experience so close and the frustration still burning, I feel more driven to understand learning disabilities and build the tools to help these kids in my classroom.
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I really like how you talked about how this related to your own personal experience. Now that I know you speak Galic, I am going to have to ask you to talk to me sometime. (I dont actually speak it, I just like to hear people talk in different languages) I think it is cool that you took the time and had the patience to learn another language. I do not think I would ever be able to sit through a class without knowing what the teacher was saying. Actually, my senior year I signed up for a spanish class, only to find out that the whole class was filled with students from nicaragua and honduras. Short story straight, I lasted one class period in there before I dropped the class and took a history course instead.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree with you on the whole behavioral issue comment. After working in a classroom for students with behavior problems, I can easily see how frustrating and not understanding can lead to outbursts and disruptions.
I agree with you 100% when you said doing this activity was the best way to start off this course. I think that porviding us with the experience of seeing tasks through a student's eyes that has a learning disability will help us to better understand what they are going through and what their struggles are. As a teacher, knowing these things will make it much easier to help the student learn, and kind of take away some of the stressors that might be adding to the students disability. I had the same feelings you did as I was going through the exercises, I just wanted to give up! I also agree with Katie, I really like how you used your own experience to talk about this issue!
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